A memoir of William Maclure, esq., late president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

MORTON
A Memoir of William Maclure, Esq.

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1844

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MEMOIR

WILLIAM MACLURE, ESQ..

BY

SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, M. D.

ONE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE INSTITUTION.

READ JULY 1, 1841,
AND PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE ACADEMY.

SECOND EDITION,

PHILADELPHIA:

MERIIIHEW A .V 1 1 THOMPSON, PRINTS US,

No. 7 Carter's Alley.
1844.

ALEXANDER MACLURE, ESQ.

AND TO

MISS ANNA MACLURE,
THIS MEMOIR

OF THEIR

ILLUSTRIOUS BROTHER,

IS

MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY

THE AUTHOR.

Hall of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
July t, 1841.

At a special meeting of the Society held this evening, Dr. Morton, pursuant
to appointment, read a Memoir of Wm. Maclure, Esq., late President of the
Academy : whereupon it was unanimously

Resolved, That the members of the Academy have listened with deep inte-
rest and entire satisfaction to the Discourse which has just been pronounced.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Academy be presented to Dr. SAMUEL
GEORGE MORTON for the able, faithful, and eloquent memoir of our late lament-
ed President, WILLIAM MACLURI, this evening read to the Society, and that
he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for publication.

Resolved, That Prof. Walter R. Johnson, John Price Wetherill, Esq., and
Dr. Robert Bridges be a committee to communicate to Dr. Morton the foregoing
Resolutions.

Philadelphia, July 2, 1841.
To SAMUEL GEORGE MORTOX, M. D.

Dear Sir — We have been directed by the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia to present you with a copy of the foregoing Resolutions, and
perform a duty equally grateful to our own feelings and expressive of the
unanimous sentiments of the Society, in tendering to you the thanks of the
Institution for your admirable performance commemorative of our late lamented
President.

While the friends and cultivators of Science mourn their recent loss and pay
homage to departed worth among its patrons, they will not fail to recognize in
such a tribute to the memory of the dead, a vigorous surviving spirit of scien-
tific devotion — a pledge that the generous aspirations in our cause which ceased
only with the life of Maclure, will find an ample fulfilment among the living
recipients of his munificence.

Accept sir, with the thanks of the Academy, the assurance of our individual
esteem and sincere regard.

WALTER R. JOHNSON, )

JOHN P. WETHERILL, V Committee.

ROBERT BRIDGES, \

Philadelphia, July 3, 1841.

GENTLEMEN — In reply to your note of yesterday, and the accompanying
Resolutions, permit me to express, through you, my grateful acknowledgments
to the members of the Academy for the flattering manner in which they have
received my memoir of the late William Maclure.

During a connection of many years with our Institution, it has been my
constant aim to advance its interests, which are strictly identified with those of
Science ; and if my efforts have been in any degree successful, I shall ever find
an ample reward in the approbation of my Associates.

I remain, gentlemen, with sincere esteem,

Your very obliged friend and servant,

SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON.
To Prof. WALTER R. JOHNSON,

JOHX PRICK WETHERII.L, Esq., and ^. Committee.
ROBERT BRIDOES, M. D.,

MEMOIR

WILLIAM MACLURE, ESQ.

THE most pleasing province of Biography is that,
which commemorates the sway of the affections.
These, however variously expressed, tend to the dif-
fusion of religion, of virtue and of knowledge, and
consequently of Happiness. He who feeds the hun-
gry, or soothes the sorrowful, or encourages merit, or
disseminates truth, justly claims the respect and gra-
titude of the age in which he lives, and consecrates
his name in the bosom of posterity. The benefac-
tions of a liberal mind not only do good of themselves,
but incite the same spirit in others ; for who can be-
hold the happy results of useful and benevolent en-
terprise, and not feel the godlike impulse to partici-
pate in and extend them ?

The study of Natural History in this country,
though late in attracting general attention, has ex-
panded with surprising rapidity. Thirty years ago
all our naturalists were embraced in a few cultivators

8 MEMOIR OF

of Botany and Mineralogy, while the other branches
were comparatively unheeded and unknown. The
vast field of inquiry was devoid of labourers, excepting
here and there a solitary individual who pursued the
sequestered paths of Science, filled with an enthu-
siasm of which the busy world knew nothing. How
widely different is the scene which now presents it-
self to our view ! We see the unbounded resources
of the land brought forth to the light of day, and made
to minister to the wants and the intelligence of hu-
manity. Every region is explored, every locality is
anxiously searched for new objects of utility, or new
sources of study and instruction.

In connection with these gratifying facts, it will
be reasonably inquired, who were they who fostered
the early infancy of Science in our country ? Who
were they who stood forth r unmindful of the sneer of
ignorance and the frown of prejudice, to unveil the
fascinating truths of Nature ?

Among the most zealous and efficient of these pio-
neers of discovery was WILLIAM MACLDRE.

This gentleman, the son of David and Ann Ma-
clure, was born at Ayr in Scotland, in the year 1763 ;
and he there received the primary part of his educa-
tion under the charge of Mr. Douglass, an intelligent
teacher, who was especially reputed for classical and
mathematical attainments. His pupil's strong mind
readily acquired the several branches of a liberal

WILLIAM MACLURE. 9

education; but he has often remarked, that from
childhood he was disposed to reject the learning of
the schools for the simpler and more attractive truths
of natural history. The active duties of life, however,
soon engrossed his time and attention; and at the
early age of nineteen years he visited the United
States with a view to mercantile employment. He
landed in the city of New York; and having made
the requisite arrangements, returned without delay to
London, where he commenced his career of commer-
cial enterprise as a partner in the house of Miller,
Hart & Co. He devoted himself to business with
great assiduity, and speedily reaped a corresponding
reward. In the year 1796 he again visited America,
in order to arrange some unsettled business of the
parent establishment : but in 1803 we find him once
more in England, not, however, as a merchant, but in
the capacity of a public functionary ; for Mr. Maclure
was at this time appointed a commissioner to settle
the claims of American citizens on the government
of France, for spoliations committed during the revo-
lution in that country. In this arduous and respon-
sible trust Mr. Maclure was associated with two col-
leagues, John Fenton Mercer and Cox Barnet, Esqs. ;
and by the ability and diligence of this commission,
the object of their appointment was accomplished to
general satisfaction.

During the few years which Mr. Maclure passed
on the Continent in attention to these concerns, he

10 MEMOIROF

took occasion to visit many parts of Europe for the
purpose of collecting objects in Natural History, and
forwarding them to the United States — which from
his boyhood had been to him the land of promise, and
subsequently his adopted country. With this design
he traversed the most interesting portions of the old
world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Baltic, and
from the British Islands to Bohemia. Geology had
become the engrossing study of his mind; and he
pursued it with an enthusiasm and success to which
time, toil and distance presented but temporary ob-
stacles.

Instructed by these researches, Mr, Maclure was
prepared, on his return to the United States, to com-
mence a most important scientific enterprise, and one
which he had long contemplated as the great object
of his ambition, viz. : a Geological Survey of the United
States.

In this extraordinary undertaking we have a forci-
ble example of what individual effort can accomplish,
unsustained by government patronage, and unassisted
by collateral aids. At a time when scientific pursuits
were little known and still less appreciated in this
country, he commenced his herculean task. He went
forth with his hammer in his hand and his wallet on
his shoulder, pursuing his researches in every di-
rection, often amid pathless tracks and dreary soli-
tudes, until he had crossed and recrossed the Alle-
ghany mountains no less than fifty times. He en-

WILLIAM MACLURE. 11

countered all the privations of hunger, thirst, fatigue
and exposure, month after month, and year after year,
until his indomitable spirit had conquered every diffi-
culty, and crowned his enterprise with success.

Mr. Maclure's observations were made in almost
every state and territory in the Union, from the river
St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico ; and the Me-
moir which embraced his accumulated facts, was at
length submitted to the American Philosophical So-
ciety, and printed in their transactions for the year
]809.*

Novel as this work was, and replete with important
details, its author did not suspend his researches with
its publication, but resumed them on a yet more ex-
tended scale, in order to obtain additional materials,
and test the correctness of his previous views. In
after life he often recurred with pleasure to the inci-
dents connected with this survey ; some of which,
though vexatious at the time, were subsequently the
theme of amusing anecdote. When travelling in
some remote districts, the unlettered inhabitants see-
ing him engaged in breaking the rocks with his ham-
mer, supposed him to be a lunatic who had escaped
from confinement; and on one occasion, as he drew
near a public house, the inmates, being informed of

* The memoir is entitled, " Observations on the Geology of the
United States, explanatory of a Geological Map." It was read
January 20, 1809, and is published in the sixth volume of the So-
ciety's Transactions.

12 MEMOIR OF

his approach, took refuge in- doors, and closing the
entrance held a1 parley from the windows, until they
were at length convinced that the stranger could be
safely admitted.

Incidents of this kind, and many others which oc-
curred to him, appear to have influenced the following
remarks in the Preface to his Geology : " All inquiry
into the nature and properties of rocks, or the relative
situation they occupy on the surface of the earth, has
been much neglected. It is only since a few years
that it has been thought worth the attention of either
the learned or unlearned; and even now a great pro-
portion of both treat such investigations with con-
tempt, as beneath their notice. Why mankind should
have so long neglected to acquire knowledge so use-
ful to the progress of civilization — why the substances
over which they have been daily stumbling, and
without whose aid they could not exercise any one
art or profession, should be the last to occupy their
attention — is one of those problems perhaps only to
be solved by an analysis of the nature and origin of
the power of the few over the many."

Notwithstanding that Mr. Maclure thus felt him-
self almost alone in his pursuits in this country, he
did not relax his ardour in the cause of science, but
continued to extend and complete his Geological sur-
vey ; which, after receiving his final revisions, was
again presented to the Philosophical Society on the
16th of May, 1817, eight years after their reception

WILLIAM MACLURE. 13

of the original draft. The amended memoir was
now republished, both in the Society's transactions
and in a separate volume, accompanied by a coloured
map and sections; and while it placed its author
among the first of living Geologists, excited a thirst
for inquiry and comparison which has continued to
extend its influence over every section of our coun-
try.

It is not proposed in this place to analyze this
valuable contribution to American Science. It may
be sufficient to remark, that every one conversant
with Geology is surprised at the number and accu-
racy of Mr. Maclure's observations; for the many
surveys which have been recently conducted in
almost every state in the Union, have only tended to
confirm his correctness as to the extent and relative
position of the leading Geological formations of this
country; while the genius and industry which could
accomplish so much, must command the lasting re-
spect and admiration of those who can appreciate
the triumphs of Science. In the evening of his days
Mr. Maclure beheld with unmixed pleasure, the pro-
gress of Geology in his adopted country: he saw
State after State directing Geological surveys under
the supervision of zealous and able naturalists : he
rejoiced to observe how their observations harmonized
with his own; and it was among his most pleasing
reflections, as age and infirmity drew near, that he
had once trodden almost solitary and unheeded, that

14 MEMOIR OF

path which is now thronged with votaries of science
and aspirants for honour.

In truth, what among temporal considerations is
more remarkable and gratifying than the progress
which has been made in elucidating the Geology of
this country during the past thirty years? So ex-
tended a field, so many obstacles, and so little patron-
age, seemed at first view to present insuperable diffi-
culties ; and it was feared, and not without reason,
that while every part of Europe was explored under
the patronage of national governments, the vast natu-
ral resources of this country would long remain un-
searched and unimproved ; not for the want of zeal
and talent, but from a deficiency of that encourage-
ment which is necessary to great and persevering
exertion. Happily, however, the day of doubt has
passed; and our State governments now vie with
each other in revealing those buried treasures which
minister so largely to the wealth, the comfort and the
intelligence of man.

The time which Mr. Maclure allotted to repose
from his Geological pursuits was chiefly passed in
Philadelphia ; where he watched the rise of a young
but promising institution, devoted exclusively to Na-
tural History, and numbering among its members
whatever our city then possessed of scientific taste
and talent. This institution was the ACADEMY OF
NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA; and as its
history, from this period, is inseparably connected

WILLIAM MACLURE. 15

with the life of Mr. Maclure, let us briefly inquire
into its origin and progress.

The Academy was founded in January, 1812, at
which period a few gentlemen, at first but seven in
number, resolved to meet once in every week for the
purpose of conversing on scientific subjects, and thus
communicating to each other the results of their
reading, observation and reflection.

Although Mr. Maclure was absent from the city
at the initiatory meeting, he had no sooner returned
than his name was enrolled on the list of members ;
and from that hour, and with this circumstance, the
prosperity of the institution commenced. Arrange-
ments were soon after entered into for the delivery
of courses of lectures, chiefly on Chemistry and
Botany ; and the library and museum were at once
replenished with books and specimens from Mr.
Maclure's European collections.

On the 30th of December, 1817, Mr. Maclure
was elected President of the Academy; to which
office of confidence and honour he was annually re-
elected up to the time of his death, a period of more
than twenty-two years.

Under his auspices the Journal of the Academy
(which now numbers eight octavo volumes) was
commenced with energy and talent ; and such was
his interest in its progress, that a considerable portion
of the first volume was printed in an apartment of
his own house.

16 M E M 0 I R O F

Among the most ardent of Mr. Maclure's colleagues
at this time, was Mr. Thomas Say, a gentleman who
united in a remarkable degree the love of science
and the social virtues. Enthusiastic in his favorite
studies, and possessed of a singular tact for detecting
the varied relations of organized beings, he early
attracted the notice and secured the esteem of Mr.
Maclure; and the friendship which thus grew up
between them, continued unaltered by time or cir-
cumstance to the end of life. How much the
Academy and the cause of Natural History owe to
the united eiForts of these gentlemen, I need not
declare ; for not only here, but wherever their fa-
vourite pursuits are loved and cultivated, their names
will be inseparably interwoven with the records and
the honours of science.

During the year 1817, Mr. Maclure chiefly occu-
pied himself in the publication of his Geology in a
separate volume; after which he devoted himself
with assiduity to the interests of the Academy.
Previous to the year 1819, he had already presented
the institution with the larger part of the fine library
he had collected in Europe, embracing nearly fifteen
hundred volumes ; among which were six hundred
quartos and one hundred and forty-six folios on natu-
ral history, antiquities, the fine arts, voyages and
travels. "The value of these acquisitions was
greatly enhanced by the fact that they were possessed
by no other institution on this side of the Atlantic.

WILLIAM MA.CLURE. 17

The Academy, therefore, derived from this source, a
prosperity and permanence which, under other cir-
cumstances, must have been extremely slow and
uncertain ; while Science at the same time received
an impulse which has never faltered, and which has
been subsequently imparted to every section of our
country." *

In the winter of 1816-17, Mr. Maclure visited the
West Indies, for the purpose of ascertaining, by per-
sonal observation, the Geology of the chain of islands
known as the Antilles. With this view he visited
and examined nearly twenty of these islands in the
Caribean sea, from Barbadoes to Santa Cruz and
St. Thomas inclusive. He bestowed especial atten-
tion on those portions of the series which are of
volcanic origin, of which the Grenadines form the
southern, and Saba the northern end of the chain.
The results of this voyage of observation, in which
he was accompanied by his friend Mr. Lesueur, were
submitted to the Academy on the 28th of October,
1817, and soon afterwards published in the Society's
Journal, f

In 1819 Mr. Maclure's active mind was again
directed to Europe. Embarking at New York, he
went direct to France, and not long afterwards to
Spain. He was induced to visit the latter country

* Notice of the Academy of Natural Sciences, p. 13.

t Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. i.
3

18 M E M O I R O F

on account of the liberal constitution promulgated
by the Cortes, which promised a comparatively free
government to a country long oppressed by every
species of bondage. His plan was to establish a great
agricultural school, in which physical labour should
be combined with moral and intellectual culture.
His views were almost exclusively directed to the
lower and consequently uneducated classes, whom
he hoped to elevate above the thraldom to which
they had been subjected by the institutions of their
country. He purchased of the government 10,000
acres of land near the city of Alicant; and having
repaired the buildings, and placed the estate in com-
plete order, he prepared to commence his scheme of
practical benevolence. Scarcely, however, were these
arrangements made when the Constitutional govern-
ment was overthrown, and the old institutions, with
all their abuses, were again imposed upon this unfor-
tunate country. The property which Mr. Maclure
had purchased from the Cortes had been confiscated
from the Church ; and as the priesthood were now
re-invested in their estates, they at once dispossessed
him without ceremony or reimbursement.

Disappointed and mortified by this adverse termi-
nation of his plans, Mr. Maclure abandoned them as
hopeless, and prepared to return to the United States.
Before doing so, however, he visited various parts of
southern Spain with a view to scientific investigation.
But even in this unoffending employment he found

WILLAMMACLURE. 19

himself surrounded by new dangers, which compelled
him to relinquish much that he had proposed to ac-
complish in these researches ; and his feelings, and
the causes which gave rise to them, are forcibly ex-
pressed in a letter to his friend Professor Silliman,
dated Alicant, March 6, 1824.

" I have been much disappointed in being prevented
from executing my Mineralogical excursions in Spain,
by the bands of powerful robbers that have long in-
fested the astonishingly extended surface of unculti-
vated and inhospitable wilds in this naturally delight-
ful country. Not that I require any money worth
the robbing to supply me with all that I need — for
the regimen which I adopt for the promotion of my
health, demands nothing but water and a very small
quantity of the most common food — but these barba-
rians have adopted the Algerine system of taking you,
as a slave, to the mountains, where they exact a ran-
som of as many thousand dollars as they conceive the
property you possess will enable you to pay."*

On returning to the United States in 1824, Mr.
Maclure was still intent on establishing an Agricul-
tural School on a plan similar to that he had attempted
in Spain. At this juncture the settlement at New
Harmony, in Indiana, had been purchased by the ec-
centric author of the Social System ; and many in-
telligent persons, deceived by a plausible theory, went
forth to join the Utopian colony ; and Mr. Maclure
*American Journal of Science, vol. viii, p. 187.

20 M E M O I R 0 F

himself, willing to test the validity of a system which
seemed to promise something for human advantage,
resolved to establish, in the same locality, his pro-
posed Agricultural school. He did not, at the same
time, adopt all the peculiar views of this fugitive com-
munity, to many of which, in fact, he was decidedly
opposed ; but he consented to compromise a part of
his own opinions in order to accomplish, in his own
phrase, "the greatest good for the greatest number."
For this purpose he forwarded to New Harmony his
private library, philosophical instruments and col-
lections in Natural History, designing, by these and
other means, to make that locality the centre of edu-
cation in the West. That the Social scheme .was
speedily and entirely abortive, is a fact familiar to
every one; but Mr. Maclure having purchased ex-
tensive tracts of land in the town and vicinity of New
Harmony, continued to reside there for several years,
in the hope of bringing his school into practical ope-
ration.

In leaving Philadelphia for New Harmony, Mr.
Maclure induced several distinguished naturalists to
bear him company, as coadjutors in his educational
designs ; and among them were Mr. Say, Mr. Lesueur,
Dr. Troost, and a few others, who had already earned
an enviable scientific reputation.

For various reasons which need not be discussed
in this place, the School did not fulfil the expectations
of its founder, who was at length constrained to re-

WILLIAM MACLURE. 21

linquish it ; and the less reluctantly as the approach
of age, and the increasing delicacy of his constitution,
admonished him of the necessity of seeking a more
genial climate. We accordingly find him, in the au-
tumn of 1827, embarking for Mexico in company with
his friend Mr. Say. They passed the winter in that
delightful country ; and employed their time in ob-
serving and recording the various new facts in science
which there presented themselves; ^and on the ap-
proach of summer they returned to the United States.
Mr. Maclure was so pleased with the climate of
Mexico, and so solicitous to study the social and po-
litical institutions of the country, that he determined
to return the same year; and with this intent he
visited Philadelphia, proceeded thence to New Haven,
and presided for the last time at a meeting of the
American Geological Society in that city on the 17th
of November, 1828. Of this institution he had also
long been President, and took an active interest in
its prosperity, which was strengthened by his regard
for his friend Professor Silliman — a man justly es-
teemed for his zealous and successful exertions to
advance the interests of Science, as well as for his
extensive acquirements and his many virtues. On
this occasion Mr. Maclure declared his intention to
bring back with him from Mexico a number of young
native Indians, in order to have them educated in the
United States, and subsequently diifuse the benefits
of instruction among the people of their own race.

22 M E M 0 I R O F

This benevolent object, however, was not accom-
plished ; for in the ordering of Providence he did not
live to return.

From New Haven Mr. Maclure proceeded to New
York, and embarked for Mexico. Time and distance,
however, could not estrange him from that solicitude
which he had long cherished for the advancement of
education in his adopted country; and from his re-
mote residence he kept a constant correspondence
with his friends in the United States, among whom
was the author of this memoir.

Mr. Say* died in 1834, at New Harmony; and
Mr. Maclure was thus deprived of one his oldest
and firmest friends. The loss seemed for a time to
render him wavering as to his future plans; but con-
vinced, on reflection, that his educational projects in
the West could be no longer fostered or sustained,
he resolved to transfer his library at New Harmony
to the Academy of Natural Sciences. This rich do-

*Mr. Say was one of the founders of the Academy; and
among the last acts of his life, he provided for the further utility
of the institution by requesting that it should become the depo-
sitory of his books and collections. This verbal bequest was
happily confided to one whose feelings and pursuits were conge-
nial to his own ; and the Academy is indebted to Mr. and Mrs.
Say, for some of its most valuable acquisitions.

An interesting and eloquent Memoir of Mr. Say, was written
by Dr. Benjamin Hornor Coates, under the auspices of the
Academy in 1835.

WILLIAM MACLURE. 23

nation was announced to the Society in the autumn
of 1835; and Dr. Charles Pickering, who had been
for several years librarian of the institution, was de-
puted to superintend the conveyance of the books to
Philadelphia ; a trust which was speedily and safely
accomplished.

This second library contained 2259 volumes, em-
bracing, like the former one, works in every depart-
ment of useful knowledge, but especially Natural
History and the Fine Arts, together with an extensive
series of maps and charts.

Mr. Maclure's liberality, however, was not con-
fined to a single institution : the American Geologi-
cal Society, established, as we have already mention-
ed, at New Haven, partook largely of his benefactions
both in books and specimens ; and in reference to
these repeated contributions, Professor Silliman has
expressed the following brief but just and beautiful
acknowledgment: "This gentleman's liberality to
purposes of science and humanity has been too often
and too munificently experienced in this country, to
demand any eulogium from us. It is rare that afflu-
ence, liberality and the possession and love of science
unite so signally in the same individual."*

Since the year 1826 the academy had occupied an
edifice in some respects well adapted to its objects ;
but the extent and value of the library, suggested to

* Amer. Jour, of Science, vol. iii. p. 362.

24 MEMOIR OF

Mr. Maclure the necessity of a fire-proof building.
In order to accomplish this object he first transferred
to the society a claim of an unsettled estate for the
sum of five thousand dollars, which was followed^ in
1837 by a second donation of the same amount.
Meanwhile, having matured the plan of the new
Hall of the Academy, and having explained his views
to the members, he transmitted, in 1838, an addition-
al subscription for ten thousand dollars.

Thus sustained by the splendid liberality of their
venerable President, the Society proceeded without
delay in the erection of a new building. The corner
stone was laid at the corner of Broad and George
streets, with due form on the 25th of May 1839 ;
on which occasion an appropriate Address was deli-
vered by Professor Johnson. The edifice thus au-
spiciously begun, was conducted without delay to
completion ; so that the first meeting of the Society
within its walls was held on the 7th day of February
1840.

Mr. Maclure had fervently desired and fully ex-
pected to revisit Philadelphia ; but early in the year
1839 his constitution suffered several severe shocks
of disease, and from that period age and its varied
infirmities grew rapidly upon him. ^Under these
circumstances be became more than ever 'solicitous
to return to the United States, to enjoy again the com-
panionship of his family and friends, and to end his

WILLIAM M A C L U R E. 25

days in that laud which had witnessed alike his pros-
perity and his munificence.

He made repeated efforts to accomplish this last
wish of his heart; and finally arranged with his
friend Dr. Burrough, then United States Consul at
Vera Cruz, to meet him at Jalapa with a litter a and
bearers, in order to conduct him to the sea-coast.
Dr. Burrough faithfully performed his part of the
engagement ; but after waiting for some days at the
appointed place of meeting, he received the melan-
choly intelligence that Mr. Maclure, after having left
Mexico and accomplished a few leagues of his jour-
ney, was compelled by illness and consequent ex-
haustion to relinquish his journey.

Languid in body, and depressed and disappointed
in mind, Mr. Maclure reluctantly retraced his steps ;
but being unable to reach the capital, he was cordially
received into the country house of his friend Valen-
tine Gomez Farias, Ex-President of Mexico, where
he received all the attentions which hospitality could
dictate. His feeble frame was capable of but one
subsequent effort, which enabled him to reach the
village of San Angel ; where, growing weaker and
weaker, and sensible of the approach of death, he
yielded to the common lot of humanity on the 23d
day of March, 1840, in the seventy-seventh year of
his age.

The death of Mr. Maclure was announced to the
Academy on Tuesday evening the 28th of April, on

26 MEMOIR OF

which" occasion the following resolutions were una-
nimously adopted :

Resolved, That the Academy has learned with deep
concern, the decease, at San Angel, near the city of
Mexico, of their venerable and respected President
and benefactor, William Maclure, Esq.

Resolved, That although his declining health in-
duced him to reside for some years in a distant and
more genial clime, this Academy cherishes for Mr.
Maclure the kindest personal recollections, and a
grateful sense of his contributions to the cause of
Science.

Resolved, That as the Pioneer of Americal Geolo-
gy, the whole country owes to Mr. Maclure a debt
of gratitude, and in his death will acknowledge the
loss of one of the most efficient friends of Science
and the Arts.

Resolved, That as the patron of men of science,
even more than for his personal researches, Mr.
Maclure deserves the lasting regard of mankind.

Resolved, That a member of the Academy be ap-
pointed to prepare and deliver a discourse commemo-
rative of its lamented President.

Resolved, That the Corresponding Secretary be
requested to communicate to the family of Mr. Ma-
clure a copy of these Resolutions.

Thus closed a life which had been devoted, with
untiring energy and singular disinterestedness, to the

WILLIAM MACLURE. 27

attainment and diffusion of practical knowledge. No
views of pecuniary advantage, or personal aggran-
dizement, entered into the motives by which he was
governed? his educational plans, it is true, were
repeatedly inoperative, not because he did too little,
but because he expected more than could be realized
in the social institutions by which he was surrounded.
He aimed at reforming mankind by diverting their
attention from the mere pursuit of wealth and ambi-
tion, to the cultivation of the mind ; and espousing
the hypothesis of the possible " equality of education,
property and power" among men, he laboured to
counteract that love of superiority which appeared
to him to cause half the miseries of our species.
However fascinating these views are in theory, man-
kind are not yet prepared to reduce them to practice ;
and without entering into discussion in this place we
may venture to assert, that what Religion itself has
not been able to accomplish, Philosophy will attempt
in vain.

Mr. Maclure's character habitually expressed itself
without dissimulation or disguise. Educated in the
old world almost to the period of manhood, and
inflexibly averse to many of its established institu-
tions, he was prone to indulge the opposite extremes
of opinion, and became impatient of those usages
which appeared to him to fetter the reason and em-
barrass the genius of man ; and while he rejoiced in
the republican system of his adopted country, he

28 MEMOIROF

aimed at an intellectual exaltation which, to common
observation at least, seems incompatible with the
wants and impulses of our nature.

Fully and justly imbued with the importance of
disseminating practical truth, he strove, through its
influence to bring the several classes of mankind
more on a level with each other ; not by invading
the privileges of the rich, but by educating the poor ;
thus enforcing the sentiment that " knowledge is
power," and that he who possesses it will seldom be
the dupe of designing and arbitrary minds. With
a similar motive v he endeavoured to inculcate the
elements of Political Economy, by the publication
of epistolary essays in a familiar style, which have
been embodied in two volumes with the title of
Opinions on Various Subjects. They discover a bold
and original mind, and a fondness for innovation
which occasionally expresses itself in a startling sen-
timent ; but however we may differ from him on
various questions, it must be conceded that his views
of financial operations were remarkably correct,
inasmuch as he predicted the existing pecuniary em-
barrassments of this country, at the very time when
the great mass of observers looked forward to accu-
mulating wealth and unexampled prosperity.

Let it not be supposed that Mr. Maclure's benevo-
lent efforts were restricted to those extended schemes
of usefulness to which we have so often adverted.
Far, very far from it. His individual and more pri-

WILLIAM MACLURE. 29

vate benefactions, were such as became his affluent
resources, influenced by a generous spirit. He habitu-
ally extended his patronage to genius, and his cordial
support to those plans which, in his view, were
adapted to the common interests of humanity. There
are few cabinets of Natural History in our country,
public or private, that have not been augmented
from his stores ; and several scientific publications of
an expensive character, have been sustained to com-
pletion by his instrumentality. While in Europe,
he purchased the copper-plate illustrations of some
important works both in science and art, with the
intention of having them re-published at home in a
cheaper form, in order to render them accessible to
all classes of learners. Among these works was
Michaux's Sylva, which is now going through the
press in conformity to his wishes.

He was singularly mild and unostentatious in his
manner ; and though a man of strong feelings, he
seldom allowed his temper to triumph over his judg-
ment. Cautious in his intimacies, and firm in his
friendships, time and circumstance in no degree
weakened the affections of his earlier years. Though
affable and communicative, Mr. Maclure was very
much isolated during the last thirty years of his
life ; partly owing to a naturally retiring disposition,
partly to the peculiarity of some of his opinions, in
respect to which, though unobtrusive, he was inflexi-
ble— but mainly to that frequent change of residence

30 MEMOIROF

which is unfavourable to social fellowship. Hence
it is that of the thousands who are familiar with his
name in the annals of Science, comparatively few
can speak of him from personal knowledge.

In person he was above the middle stature, and of
a naturally robust frame. His constitution was elas-
tic, and capable of much endurance of privation and
fatigue, which he attributed chiefly to the undevia-
ting simpliciiy of his diet. His head was large, his
forehead high and expanded, his nose acquiline ; and
his collective features were expressive of that undis-
turbed serenity of mind which was a conspicuous
trait of his character.

Those who knew him in early life, represent him
to have been remarkable for personal endowments ;
a fact which is evident in the full-length portrait now
in possession of his family, and which was painted
upwards of forty years ago by the celebrated North-
cote. The engraved likeness which accompanies
this memoir, is copied from a portrait taken by Mr .
Sully, in 1824, at which period Mr. Maclure was
about sixtv-three years of asre.

•/• J O

Such was WILLIAM MACLURE, whose long, active
and useful life is the subject of this brief and inade-
quate memorial. His remains are entombed in a dis-
tant land, and even there the spirit of affection has
raised a tablet to his memory. But his greater and
more enduring monument, is the edifice within whose
walls we are now met to recount and perpetuate his

WILLIAM MACLURE. 31

virtues. Wherever we turn our eyes we behold the
proofs of his talent, his zeal, his munificence. We
see an Institution which, under his fostering care, has
already attained the manhood of Science, and is des-
tined to connect his name with those beautiful truths
which formed the engrossing subject of his thoughts
We see around us the collections that were made with
his own hands, vastly augmented, it is true, by the
zeal of those who have been stimulated by his ex-
anple. Here are the books which he read — to him
the fountains of pleasure and instruction. Here has
he concentrated the works of nature, the sources of
knowledge, the incentives to study ; and, actuated by
his liberal spirit, we open our doors to all inquiring
minds, and invite them to participate, with us, in
these invaluable acquisitions ; and while we regard
them as a trust to be transmitted unblemished to pos-
terity, let us honour the name and cherish the memory
of the man from whom we derived them.*

*Mr. Maclure died before he had accomplished all his views in
respect to this Institution ; for, looking forward, as he did, to re-
newed personal intercourse with its members, he intended to inquire
for himself into the most available modes of extending its useful,
ness. This, as we have seen, was denied him ; but the Spirit of
Science which was inherent in him, has descended upon his brother
and sister ; and to these estimable and enlightened individuals, we
owe the consummation of all that their brother had proposed in re-
ference to the Academy, which will be hereafter enabled to devote
its resources exclusively to the advancement of those objects for
which it was founded.

APPENDIX.

List of Mr. Madure's Published Works and Memoirs.

The following list embraces the separate works
(two in number) and miscellaneous papers written
by Mr. Maclure during his residence in the United
States. It is not presumed that the list is complete .
for it is more than probable that he contributed some-
thing to the periodical journals of England, France ,
Spain, and perhaps Mexico, whilst resident in those
countries.

A reference to the following Essays will show how
exclusively Mr. Maclure's mind was devoted to mat-
ters of fact, seldom indulging in hypothesis, and never
yielding himself, at least in his writings, to purely
imaginative reflections.

1. Observations on the Geology of the United States of

America, with some Remarks on the Nature and Fer-
tility of Soils, &c. Svo. Philad. 1817. This is a cor-
rected reprint from the Trans, of the Amer. Philos.
Soc.

2. Opinions on Various Subjects, 2 vols. Svo. This work

is epistolary, and was chiefly written in Mexico.
It embraces reflections on many subjects, but is
mainly devoted to Political Economy.
Memoirs in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia :

1. Observations on the [Geology of the] West India
, Islands, from Barbadoes to Santa Cruz, inclusive.
Vol. I, p. 134.

APPENDIX 33

2. Essay on the Formation of Rocks ; or an Inquiry into
their probable Origin, and their present Form and
Structure. Vol. I, p. 261.
Memoirs in the American Philosophical Transactions :

1. Observations on the Geology of the United States, ex-

planatory of a Geological Map. Vol. VI, p. 91. 1809,

2. The same Memoir, corrected and extended. Vol. I.

New Series, 1S17.

Memoirs in the American Journal of Science and Art, con-
ducted by Professor Silliman :

1. Hints on some of the Outlines of Geological Arrange-

ment. Vol. I, p. 209

2. Conjectures on the probable changes that have taken

place in the Geology of the Continent of America,
east of the Stony Mountains. Vol. VI, p. 98.

3. Miscellaneous Remarks on the Systematic Arrange-

ment of Rocks, and on their probable Origin. Vol.
VII, p. 261.

4. Notice of the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania,

Vol. X, p. 205.

5. Remarks on the Igneous Theory of the Earth. Vol.

XVI, p. 351.

6. Geological Remarks relating to Mexico. Vol. XX.

p. 406. The same periodical also contains many
detached Observations, and fragments of letters com-
municated to the Editor of that work.
Memoirs published in the Journal de Physique, de Chimie
et d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris :

1. Extrait d'une Lettre de M. William Maclure, & J. C.

Delametherie sur la Geologic des Etats Unis. Tome
69, p. 201. (1809.)

2. Observations sur la Geologic des Etats Unis, servant

a expliquer une Carte Geologique. Tome 69, p.
204. (1809.)

This last memoir is a translation from the original in the
American Philosophical Transactions.

NOTE.

The Hall of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel-
phia is situated at the corner of Broad and George streets,
forty-five feet front on the former, and eighty-five feet in
depth on the latter. The building is fire-proof, and presents
a single saloon .with three ranges of galleries, beneath which,
in the basement, is a lecture-room capable of accommodating
four hundred persons.

The institution was founded in 1812 and incorporated in
1817, and enjoys a perpetual exemption from taxation by
legislative enactment.

The Museum embraces extensive collections in every de-
partment of Natural History, arranged according to the most
approved systems, viz :

2500 Minerals.

3000 Fossil Organic Remains.

10,000 Species of Insects.

2400 Species of Shells.

1000 Species of Fishes and Reptiles.

1500 Species of Birds; a small but valuable collection of
Quadrupeds, and an extensive series in Comparative Anat-
omy.

The Herbarium contains about 35,000 species of plants,
arranged according to the natural system.

The Library embraces 7000 volumes, and is alwars acces-
sible to members, and to visitors attended by members, except-
ing only those occasions when the Academy is open . to the
public, viz : — on the afternoon of Tuesday and Saturday.

Admission free of charge.

000948254 "

THE LIBRARY

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